Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1916 — CLAIM RECORD FOR SAFETY [ARTICLE]

CLAIM RECORD FOR SAFETY

American Railroads Occupy Proud Position, According to Figures Given Out by Bureau.

That American railroads are now the safest for passengers In the world, is the cheering assurance drawn from the figures for 1915 put forth by the Bureau of Railway News. The fiscal year to June 30 passed, Tor 325 railroads with two-thirds of all our mileage, without killing a single passenger. On all railroads, with 250,000 miles and more of track, the passenger deaths were 196. They were ’ 265 in 1914, and 403 in 1913. In 1905, of little more than half as many passengers 533 were killed. The latest returns from Europe, covering 207,015 miles, all but a small fraction, and showing 700 deaths, are not a fair test because' of war. More passengers were killed in Great Britain than in the United States, but 157 were lost in a single troop-train disaster. In 1913, 124 passengers were killed on 23,000 miles of British track. Their number* of passengers, 000, was greater than ours last year, but by passenger miles our 1915 record Is cleaner than Britain’s in the last year of peace. Fewer employees also were killed in this country in 1914 than in Britain in 1913, in proportion to passenger train miles and freight-ton miles. But in the list of trespassers and others slain - on the tracks we continue a shocking tale. Let the praiseworthy efforts of our managers to check this drain upon Ilf* be crowned with success and the record of American railroading will no longer require apology. . ...